I once heard that when we are at a loss for words, we should get on our knees and lift up our hands to signal the universal sign of surrender. Something about this practice seems to be an incredibly apt metaphor for so many of the mixed emotions I feel about the death of spirit airlines.
Many of my readers are, for better or for worse, too privileged to understand exactly why I and many in this country feel this way, but please bear with me. Spirit airlines was founded on a simple vision: everyone deserves to be in the air, rich or poor.
Of course, this vision was only possible by cutting corners and exploiting the very people they sought out to serve. Yes, their practices were exploitative (CITE). Yes, their seats were made of cardboard (CITE). Yes, everything about the flight experience–from the contract employees to the $3.99 water bottles to the $80 carry-on fee–exemplified how coercive capitalism can twist the miracle of the airborne experience into a rat race for profit.
Yet…despite all this, as a member of the Free Spirit Loyalty Program, I can confidently testify that Spirit truly did make a difference in the lives of the American people. I remember a recently divorced individual who traveled across the country to meet a romantic interest they met online, on Fortnite. I saw a couple take a honeymoon to Las Vegas (Yes, they didn’t know carry-on bags cost extra and basically paid the same price as Southwest at the gate). I watched a man who missed his Delta flight take Spirit to attend his nephew’s baptism.
These were not merely people who happened to sit next to me. They were comrades. They were people who had nothing left, people hit rock-bottom, people who were willing to do anything for the sake of their families. These were people who sacrificed their physical, emotional, and spiritual safety for love, for connection, for the small chance to be human and LIVE.
These were people who had their knees buckled, and their arms were outstretched. I can still hear the way their groans would reverberate throughout the flight. They wanted something from the divine to help them. Spirit offered them a way out. That’s more than what anyone has done for us.
I can’t say that we love you or hate you but only that you will be remembered.
Rest in pieces, Spirit Airlines.
(find this euology here (https://www.instagram.com/p/DX2U794FrPU/?igsh=MWtkNmF5aDEwM2l1NA==) they are taking stories about spirit).